Songs of Taliban

7/25/2019 Songs of Taliban

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Iran and the Caucasus 16 (2012) 45-70

!Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/160984912X13309560274055

The Songs of the Taliban:

Continuity of Form and Thought in an

Ever-Changing Environment

*

Mikhail Pelevin

St. Petersburg State University

Matthias Weinreich

Yerevan State University

Abstract

The second half of the 1990s saw the emergence of a new, distinctive type of Afghanpoetry, the Taliban taranaperformed in Pashto by one or more vocalists without in-strumental accompaniment and characterised by the melodic modes of local folkmusic. Over the last fifteen years the tarana chants have gained wide distributionwithin Afghanistan and Pashto speaking parts of Pakistan, as well as among thePashtun diaspora. Considering their unambiguous ideological status and their im-mense popularity within the country of origin they can be regarded as the signaturetune of the Afghan insurgency. The present article, which focuses on the literaryroots of these songs, attempts to demonstrate that their authors are following cen-tury old patterns of Pashto oral and written poetry while adopting traditional ma-terial to the needs and the milieu of contemporary Afghan society. The publicationis supplemented by a transcription and English translation of five taranachants.

Keywords

Taliban, Afghanistan, Oral Literature, TaranaChants, Pashto Poetry, Jihad, Islam, Na-tionalism, Kerbela Battle

For reasons of both a historical and cultural nature, poetry can be con-sidered the most popular and illustrious form of literary expression inPashto. Educated Afghans pride themselves on belonging to a Nation of

*

The article is based on a contribution to the International Conference 15 Yearsof Achievements: Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Iran and the Caucasus, heldfrom the 1st to the 3rd of July 2011 in Yerevan (Armenia). The authors would like totake the opportunity to express their gratitude to Prof. Garnik Asatrian and his dedi-cated team for organising and leading this event in such a competent and cheerfulmanner. Special appreciation goes to Abaseen Yousafzai Saheb (Peshawar) and Dr.Dilawar Khan (Islamabad) who gave invaluable support in preparing the initial draftof the songs transcription.


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M. Pelevin, M. Weinreich / Iran and the Caucasus 16 (2012) 45-7046

Poets and even the most unsophisticated villager is able to recite Rah-man Baba1or to relate the words of a popular song. Describing the trulyextraordinary position poetry occupies in Pashtun daily life, the greatconnoisseur of Pashto literature James Darmesteter (1895: 112) point-edly observed, that Wherever three Afghans meet together, there is asong between them; and everyone who has visited Afghanistan orNorth-Western Pakistan in recent years knows that this state of affairshas not changed much since.

Spanning almost four centuries of recorded history, Pashto poetryhas been cast into many forms and deals with a considerable variety ofsubjects. Contemporary types of lyrical expression include a sizablenumber of poems articulating the feelings and opinions of authors whoadhere to the tenets of the Taliban Movement.

PERFORMANCE STYLE

These poems, commonly subsumed under the term tarana are alwaysperformed as unaccompanied songs. Normally, there is only one singer,but sometimes, especially during public recitals, there are two or threeof them, singing closely in unison, or alternating in a kind of dialoguestyle. The voice of the singer is usually highlighted by heavy delay andreverberation, electronic devices much favoured also in Quran recita-tion and in secular music of the region. Many vocalists try to hit notesabove their natural voice type, which gives their chanting a rather

forced appearance. The singing is normally nicely in tune and stronglyrhythmic. According to the British ethno-musicologist John Baily (2001:43), it is characterised by the melodic modes of Pashtun music, whereasmany items have the two-part song structure typical for the region.Some chants are very long and monotonous and tend to create in thelistener a trance-like feeling.

The customary performance of Taliban poetry as songs seems tostand in contradiction to the Talibans well-known rejection of music,one of the characteristic features of their Movement. In 1996, shortly af-ter the capture of Kabul, the Taliban leadership issued a number of

1Pashto proper names and terminology in this article are rendered in simplified

form. The phonetic transcription used for Pashto original text (in both quotationsand the appendix) includes two elements of historic phonology: 1) historically stable(long) ! and unstable (short) a are marked as opposed, although in most positionsthey appear as the same sound; 2) historically cerebral " and x# are marked as ce-rebrals although they are pronounced according to Eastern Pashto norms, i. e. likenon-cerebral gand x. The transcription characters are the same as in Cheung 2011except for /dz/ which we transcribe as$.


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M. Pelevin, M. Weinreich / Iran and the Caucasus 16 (2012) 45-70 47

public edicts, which banned music from Afghan peoples daily life. Oneof these rulings, dated December 1996, equates the distribution and en-joyment of music with a criminal offence, which ought to be punishedwith incarceration: In shops, hotels, vehicles and rickshaws cassettesand music are prohibited... If any music cassette is found in a shop, theshopkeeper should be imprisoned and the shop locked. If five peopleguarantee, the shop should be re-opened, [and] the criminal releasedlater. If a cassette [is] found in a vehicle, the vehicle and the driver willbe imprisoned. If five people guarantee, the vehicle will be released andthe criminal released later (quoted after Baily 2001: 35). This negativeview of music was upheld and enforced until the very last day of Talibanrule in Afghanistan and is current still, wherever the Movements ideol-ogy rules supreme.2

One of the authors of this article (M. W.) worked in Afghanistan from1997 to 1999. During those years, all over Taliban-administered territorytrees and poles situated close to road checkpoints were decorated withblack and brown ribbons. These ribbons were the innards of smashedaudio cassettes, confiscated from disobedient drivers and hanged as awarning for everyone to see that Mullah Umars ban on music was to betaken seriously.

On the other hand, it was, as we shall see further on, exactly duringthe second half of the 1990s that the Taliban tarana emerged as a dis-tinctive literary type. This apparent incongruity was already addressed

by John Baily (2001: 21ff.), who pointed out that in Afghan thinkingabout sound art a basic distinction is made between music created by aninstrument and an unaccompanied vocal performance.

Mullah Umars ban on music concerned only the former, includingaccompanied singing. Apparently, the Taliban associated the playing ofinstruments with un-Islamic relaxation and merrymaking, activities inclear variance with their own austere ideology, which denounces anyform of worldly pleasure.

Unaccompanied vocal performance, in contrast, did not disturb theMovements ideologists, possibly because in Afghanistan this art formwas traditionally represented by recitations of the Quran, poems inpraise of the Prophet Muhammad (nat) and other recitals linked to the

religious sphere.

2On the partially violent imposition of a ban on the sales of music in Taliban-controlled areas of North-Western Pakistan in 2007, see Freemuse 2007. Accordingto Khushal Yousafzai (2009), only two years later, in Swat District alone, nearly 500shops that sold music recordings had been forcibly closed.


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This evidence indicates that the Taliban tarana must have emergedas a distinctive literary type in the period between 1994 (the year whenthe Taliban appeared on the Afghan scene) and 1998-99, as at that mo-ment they could already be easily identified by their formal character-istics and themes covered.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OTHERS

The immediate thematic predecessors of Taliban chants are poems re-lated to the Afghan conflict of the 1980s and 1990s. The very first doc-umented specimens of this, as it is often called, resistance or jihadpoetry, date back to the time immediately following the Afghan com-

munist takeover in April 1978.3Although early jihad poets were normally not linked to any specific

ideology or political faction, arguing their case from general religiousand/or nationalist positions, later authors did not usually hesitate inprofessing their allegiance to particular resistance groups. Such a tradi-tion of political positioning is also at work for the Taliban chants. Thisdoes not only appear from their strongly opinionated contents, but isalready clearly expressed by their original Pashto designation as d%t!li-b!no tar!ne.

Opposing the Afghan communist government pen and paper in hand,early resistance poets professed their willingness to die on the battle-field while defending both homeland and honour; they denounced the

immorality of their enemy and rebuked those country fellows, whowere perceived as unwilling to stand up for the common cause. At alater stage, when the war intensified in the wake of the Soviet invasion,the poets defiant exhortations to moral, honour and bravery wereaugmented by lamentations for fallen friends and ponderings on theevil represented by the infidel occupants and their Afghan collabor-ators. All these themes are also present in the Taliban chants.

With violence, suffering and death emerging as a daily reality andhuman losses, among both fighters and unarmed civilians, growing atan unprecedented rate, resistance poets rapidly moved Islam to theethical centre of their verses. Considering the largely unchanged stateof affairs in most of contemporary Afghanistan, it is not surprising that

regular re-affirmations of religious values are still at the very heart ofthe songs written by the Taliban authors.

3On Afghanjihadpoetry in general, see Edwards 1993; 2003; for a sample of earlyresistance songs among the Hazara, see Bindemann 1988.


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CIRCULATION AND POPULAR APPEAL

By a curious coincidence, the emergence of Afghan resistance poemsconcurred with the appearance of the first affordable portable cassetterecorders on the South Asian market. As a result, oral transmission ofpopular poetry, practiced in Afghanistan since times immortal, was al-most completely replaced by analogue recordings. To Afghan resistancepoets this was a welcome development, as it not only guaranteed thema much wider audience than they could have ever dreamed of in pre-re-corder times, but also helped them to establish their work as an effec-tive ideological counterweight to governmental radio and TV transmis-

sions.Still today, within Afghanistan and its geographic surroundings,audio tape recordings are the most popular technical means used forthe reproduction of poetry and music. There are many reasons for suchlasting popularity: portable recorders are independent of a regularpower supply, they are not difficult to repair and available in manyhomes and almost every car; cassettes are cheap and durable and can, ifneeded, be easily concealed or slipped into a pocket. The last feature notwithout importance for a trouble-free enjoyment of ideologically sus-pect songs, be that nowadays, in the second half of the 1990s or 30 yearsago.

In addition to tape recordings, and as to be expected in the computerage, which the Taliban fully embraced, their songs are now also acces-sible in digitalised form. As text or audio files they can be downloadedfrom different internet sites and shared within the expanding com-munity of Afghan PC and mobile phone users.

The latest trend, however, are taranavideos, represented by two for-mally distinct but thematically overlapping types: recordings of liveperformances and clips where the chants are used as a soundtrack forTaliban propaganda footage. Let us provide some rough statistics to givean impression of these videos immense popularity: a casual search onYouTube for taliban tarana in December 2011 resulted in a choice of 59short films, the most popular of which, featuring images of MullahUmar, had been requested since May 2007 more than 125.000 times.4These numbers, which are corroborated by recent observations within

Afghanistan, suggest that since the late 1990s Taliban chants have sig-nificantly expanded their appeal, and are now also enjoyed by an audi-

4Cf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h4AwEkiZog (accessed 15. 12. 11).


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ence outside the narrow circles of the Taliban movement.5In fact, theyseem to have turned into the signature tune of the Afghan insurgency.

CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH

Notwithstanding their local appeal and recognition Taliban chants haveattracted surprisingly little attention outside their target audience. Be-sides the already quoted references, we noted only three other publica-tions dedicated to them.

The first, published in 2009, is a magazine feature article by two Ger-man journalists, Felix Kuehn and Christopher Groe, who interpret the

taranas growing popularity as a reflection of contemporary Afghan sen-timents and propose to use their lyrics as research material for a betterunderstanding of the reasons behind the Talibans on-going resistance.The article also contains a German translation of two verse samples.

The two other publications, both by authors related to the US mili-tary, evaluate taranaspecimens as examples of Taliban war propaganda.Wali Shaakers paper Poetry: Why it matters to Afghans from 2009,which besides the English translation and Pashto transcription of sixchants also contains other samples of Afghan poetry, is designated toserve as self-instruction material for US military personel interested inhow to win local hearts and minds while on combat mission in Afghani-stan. Johnson and Waheeds article from 2011 scrutinises fourteenchants, all given in English translation, and comes to the conclusionthat a timely consideration of the concerns and emotions they expresscould have spared the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan many oftheir present troubles.6

LITERARY BACKGROUND

However, it is not only their role in the contemporary Afghan context,which makes the songs of the Taliban such an attractive subject for aca-demic research. Equally interesting are their links with the Afghan lit-erary past. The following study of form, contents and literary roots ofthe Taliban chants is based on sixteen specimens, all of them part of ataranacollection acquired by one of the authors of this article (M. W.) in

5On the popularity of Taliban taranasamong Afghan listeners, see also Johnson/Waheed 2011: 5; Kuehn / Groe 2009: 28, as well as http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14713523 (accessed 25. 10. 2011).

6 A book, Poetry of the Taliban by A. Strick van Linschoten and F. Kuehn,which, according to its editors advance notice, includes a selection from the odesand ghazals of todays [Afghan] conflict is announced for March 2012.


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2005, during a short professional sojourn in Khurram Agency (TribalAreas of Pakistan).7

The texts of the songs assembled in this collection belong to themost popular type of Pashto folk literature, which is characterised bycombining features of both written professional and traditional oral po-etry. Regarding authorship and strictly formal elements it shares simi-larities with the former, while its functional purpose for being transmit-ted orally through singing brings it closer to the latter. The swift rise ofthis type of literature, according to the available bio-bibliographicaldata (Asar 1963; Bakhtanay 1968; 1978; Hewadmal 1977; Rafi 1975; Said/Hotak 1987; etc.) and the oldest collections of Pashto popular songs(Darmesteter 1888-90; Nuri 1944; Zhwak / Sapay 1955-56), starts in thesecond half of the 19th century, although its roots may be traced backas far as the times of the Hotak rulers of Kandahar (17091738).8

Two factors affected the growth and spiritual domination of Pashtofolk poetry with marked authorship the first specimens of which wererecorded by J. Darmesteter in the 1880s. On the one hand, there was therather significant progress of literacy and learning among the Pashtunsunder the emirs Sher-Ali Khan and Abdurrahman Khan in the 1860-80swhen after decades of political turmoil Afghanistan experienced a visi-ble revival of socio-economic and cultural life based on the newly for-mulated idea of national unity. The considerably widened literary envi-ronment then absorbed a new generation of Pashto poets with folk

backgrounds. Being usually illiterate, they were, nevertheless, welllearned in Pashto classic literature and followed it in some aspects.Their own popularity on all social levels and an ever-intensifying public

7The transcription and English translation of five of these songs is given in anappendix to this article. The entire collection consists of more than 80 separateitems originally recorded on nine audio cassettes. The collector will be pleased toshare digitalised versions of these songs as material for further academic research.Pertinent requests can be addressed to: [email protected].

8Literary life in the Kandahar principality under the Hotak rulers is known pri-marily according to the odious poetic anthology P%ta khazana (Hidden Treasure)the authenticity of which has been questioned since its publication in 1944. Having

no room and task here to comment on this old scholarly dispute, it should be saidthat P%ta khazanas reports on and quotes from the poets of the Kandahar literarycircle (around 17091729) may be considered as not totally fictitious but to a cer-tain degree historic, though belatedly fixed in writing. Among mainstream poetsbelonging to the written poetry tradition the anthology mentions names of aboutten lyricists who sang verses in folk forms (cf. Hewadmal 2000: 199-213). Hotaksongs pertaining by contents to the same period (published and studied in Rafi1970) are obviously of much later origin as well.


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care for Afghanistans national cultural legacy would not let theirnames and texts fade away. On the other hand, folk poetry with markedauthorship was the natural outcome of a certain folklorisation of 19thcentury Pashto written literaturea process, which implied not somuch the replacement of mainstream normative poetry with folk versebut rather the merging of the most efficient elements from both. Inother words, folk poetry with marked authorship represented an ex-pected reconciliation of two literary traditionswritten normative andoral traditionalwhich had been at odds with each other since the veryemergence of Pashto writings in the 16th century (Pelevin 2010: 10-12).

The explicit indication of authorship in poetical texts addressed toan ordinary, by and large uneducated rural audience is the most con-spicuous trait of this poetry. The practice of mentioning the poetsname, usually in the last strophe of a poem, if not originally stems from,at least deliberately adjusts to the rules of classic written poetry, wheremarking a poem with the authors literary name, takhallus, has longbeen regarded as a regular formal element.

Among the sixteen songs chosen from our collection for close studytwelve are marked with takhallus, thus giving the literary names of ninepoets: Hamidi (three texts), Darwesh (two texts), Zakir (App. text 1,),Haydari (App. text 3), Samimyar (App. text 2), Adalatyar (App. text 4),Badruddin, Muttaki, and Hanifi.

STROPHIC PATTERNS AND METRICSAs a customary mark of authorship takhallus was likely to appear inthose verse forms, which had more or less evident ties with authorisedwritten poetry and were not typical for anonymous folk songs. Themost popular forms of Pashto folk poetry, which link written and oraltraditions are ghazal and charbayta.9 All the texts under discussion arecomposed in one of these two forms.

Ghazal has come to folk culture directly from written poetry and,therefore, it keeps to a steadier strophic pattern based on the generalscheme aa-ba-ca-daAt a live performance it may acquire a number ofstrophic variations, mostly due to the reiteration of distiches (bayts),like aaba(aaba)-ca-da-eafa(eafa) in one of the songs at our disposal. Com-

pared to other poetic forms ghazal tends to preserve the classic baytstructure and a fixed metrical scheme of a verse as well.10Three regular

9For a description of the main strophic forms in Pashto poetry, both oral andwritten, see Dvoryankov 1973.

10A detailed study of Pashto metrics is presented in MacKenzie 1958. StandardPashto meters have full and apocopated variants, e. g. xx-xxx-x (8-syllable full) and


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ghazals in our selection have a standard classic 12-syllable pattern xx-xxx-xxx-(x) (&pa aw wra$r!-ta y!de"e p'm!gr!na), while the fourth, whichshows a certain variation is based on a 10-syllable pattern xxx-x[x]/ xxx-

x ((e &w'm mukim &im!la st! p')e"-ke), which is characterised by a cae-sura.11

It should be borne in mind that in folk poetry any lyric monorhymeverse without refrain may be called ghazal. To avoid this misnomer (or,better to say, contamination of terms) it is reasonable to set apartregular ghazals from those folk poems, which are also known under thewidespread name loba12. In fact, lobas, on the part of strophic structureand metrics, often look much more similar to charbaytas or bagateysthan classicghazals.

Charbayta, as truly noted by D. N. MacKenzie in his paper on Pashtometrics (1958: 321), differs from popular ghazal principally by having arefrain, which opens a poem and is repeated after each strophe. Astrophe in charbayta may have a good deal of variations built up on abasic model AA-bbbaAA-cccaAA-dddaAA13 This scheme clearly demon-strates that the very name charbaytais a sort of misnomer, too, for des-pite its literal meaning four distiches a strophe in charbayta is basedmore precisely on four semistiches (misra). Though commonly con-sidered to be of purely folk origin, charbayta in fact partly replicatessuch classic forms as murabba and chained rubai (or muqattaat), whichhave been part of Pashto written poetry since its very beginning (see

Pelevin 2005: 79-89).In the studied songs one may discern three types of charbayta pat-

terns. The first type has both lines of refrain rhymed14:

xx-xxx-(8-syllable apocopated). Full variants are taken as a basis, so general patternsare designated likexx-xxx-(x).

11 The 10-syllable metric pattern with caesura has been obviously derived byearly Pashto lyricists from folk poetry where it underlies the first line in a populardistich called landey. In written poetry this meter has been used almost exclusivelyin quatrains (rubaior calorizi), which are always perceived as having folklore roots.However, some rare examples of applying the 10-syllable meter in regular ghazals

can already be found with early Roshani poets (see Pelevin 2005: 141-144).12Sometimes these are also called milli(popular)ghazals.13About fifteen variants of simple charbaytas only are identified in Rafi 1970:

226-234.14In the patterns given below repeated lines are shown in brackets; refrain lines

repeated as compositional elements of strophes are marked in bold; the apostrophein A signifies a reduced line, i. e. with final words omitted (e. g. wa spina bayra)a osrape"a [p'kam!l] Hey, White Banner, wave now [with dignity]).


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1.1. AA(AA)-b(b)a(a)AA-c(c)a(a)AA (App. text 2)1.2. AA(AA)-b(b)aA (aA)AA-c(c)aA (aA )AA (App. text 3)1.3.1. AA(A )(AA(A ))-b(b)aA (aA)AA (A)-c(c)aA(aA)AA(A)1.3.2. AA(A )(AA(A ))-b(b)b(b)aA (aA)AA (A)-c(c)c(c)aA(aA )AA(A )

(App. text 5)1.3.3. A(A)A (A)(A(A)A (A))-bbb(b)a(a)A (A)A(A)A(A )(A(A)A(A ))-

ccc(c)a(a)A(A )A(A)A (A)(A(A)A (A)) (App. text 1)1.3.4. AAA !(AAA !)-aA !(aA !)aA !(aA !)AAA !-aA !(aA !)aA !(aA !)AAA !

In the second type two lines of refrain are rhymed differently:

2.1. AB(AB)-ccaBAB-ddaBAB

2.2. AB(AB)c(c)c(c)-aBABd(d)d(d)-aBABe(e)e(e) (App. text 4)

The third type is characterised by having introductory lines, whichstructurally stand apart from refrain and strophes:

3.1. X(X)Y-AA(AA )A-b(b)aA(aA)A-c(c)aA(aA)A3.2. XXYX-AA (AA)A-b(b)(b)(b)aA (aA)AA (A)-c(c)(c)(c)aA(aA )AA(A )

The metrics employed in these charbaytasongs are extremely diverse,too. There are texts where the meter is based on a single pattern,whether standard (e. g. 15-syllable pattern x-xxx-xxx-xxx-(x) in App. text3) or somehow modified, e. g. by attaching an additional syllable to theend of the line (14!-syllable augmented pattern -xxx-xxx-xxx-(x)[] inApp. text 5), or by syncopating the last feet (13!-syllablexxx-xxx-x )x-

(x) in n'n-me y!de"i ha)a x#kulay !&n!). In some texts metric patterns stepaway from standard ones: intended for singing they have expressivepeculiarities of folk poetry rhythmic and may vary in refrains andstrophes, e. g. xxx-xxx-xxx- / xxx-xxx-x(R),xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx / xxx-xxx(S) inApp. text 1. The most curious metric (as well as strophic) scheme isgiven in App. text 4 where the refrain is incorporated in the strophe:

xxx-xxx-xxx-x / xxx-xx / -xxx- // xxx-xx / xx-xxx-xxx (R), xxx-xxx-x / (x)xx-x(x) (S).

THEMATIC VARIETY

Thematically the songs of the Taliban follow straight traditional Pashtofolk genres, which as a rule are paralleled by those in classic written po-etry. The texts under consideration pertain to four highly populargenreswataniyya, tura, matamuna and diniyya, which cover, corres-pondingly, motives of homeland and patriotism (App. texts 1, 2), brav-ery and self-appraisal (App. text 3), mourning (App. text 4), and reli-gious homily (App. text 5).

In folk poetry turaand matamunaverses are among the oldest ones.Their origins in pre-Islamic times are beyond any doubt. Boasting of


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kinsmens or ones own bravery, vigour, high moral qualities and meritsalways constituted a major subject in the songs of tribal bards of what-ever ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions. In Pashto written po-etry it was Khushhal Khan Khatak (1613-1689), the recognised founderof Pashto national literature, who introduced this kind of motives intoverses and hence enlarged the thematic field of mainstream lyrics,which had focused beforehand mostly on mystical love or religious phi-losophy and didactics. Ideologically turaverses are based on the rulingsof the well-known Pashtun Code of Honour (Pashtunwali). The very termturasignifies one of the Codes fundamental principles, which deals withwarfare skills and courage.

The most spectacular example of turapoetry among the songs at ourdisposal is App. text 3. It has very typical elements of contents and rhet-oric associated with this poetic genre. Each of the other tura songsplaces its emphasis on a particular issue; this may be an expression ofpride for being a hero ready to self-sacrifice, or the Talibans politicalcredo, or a prayer for Taliban fighters, or lyrical meditations on spiritualsteadfastness subtly interwoven with feelings of love and patriotism.

I am a butterfly of the ramparts, to the ramparts I rush.In glowing coals I suffer, but I laugh at themI am not like Majnun without any flesh. 15I became red coloured because of the blood from my chest.I have gone and become the glory of whole Kabul

(d!sangar-y!m parw"na sangaro-ta d"ng!m, by Hamidi);It is the end of black nights; the clear morning has come to us.Deep darkness is fading away, the bright sun is rising nowThe beginning of our revolt is swift and triumphant.In peoples life this revival is a beautiful day of celebration

Along the silky road we lead our caravan of justice.In this movement there is a brave man from every tribeI am proud of him, Haydari, for he is a symbol of national unity:The leader of victorious men, the fighter for faith, Muhammad Umar, he is(p"y"n d!toro #po-d!y r"-xat!lay ru$sahar-d!y, by Haydari);

15A famous personage from a Muslim romantic legend, the most famed poetic

versions of which were composed by the Persian poets Nizami Ganjavi (1188), AmirKhusrav Dihlavi (1299) and Abd ar-Rahman Jami (1484). In Pashto classic poetry thelove story of Majnun and Layla was first versifiedprobably on the basis of Nizamisversionby Sikandar Khan Khatak, a son of Khushhal Khan, in 1679/80. Accordingto the legend, while living in a desert Majnun (lit. madman) became terribly ema-ciated as a result of his love sufferings and refusal to eat. On miniatures illustratingthis story Majnun is often depicted in bony shape or without any flesh as de-scribed in the cited song.


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O, weary, weary Taliban, God help you!O, those going to battle, God help you!You are going along Gods way for the sake of God,O young fighters of Islam, God help you!You have sacrificed your life and wealth for the faith,O, honourable Afghans, God help you(st!%o st!%o t"lib"no xd"y-mu mal #a);

Over the tops of thorns I came up to Your abode.Over the tops of lances I came up to Your abodeI shortened my passageways through the paths in my heart.Over the tops of eyelashes I came up to Your abode

You watched me, You saw me in so many heavy battles.Over the tops of wounded bodies I came up to Your abode(d!az&o p!cuko cuko st"t!r k!li-pore r"&l!m, by Hanifi);

Mourning verses, whether popular (matamuna) or literary (marthiyya),historically developed from funeral songs, which are likely to be as oldas folk poetry itself. We have a unique testimony of the fact that thiskind of verses had been current among Pashtuns long before Pashtowritten poetry appeared. Muslim preacher Abd al-Karim (d. 1661/62), ason of the revered Afghan theologian Akhund Darveza (d. 1618/19 or1638/39), in one of his writings at length criticises the old and popular,but ideologically non-Islamic Pashtun practice of singing bereavementsongs (d% wir sand%re) over deceased persons (see Pelevin 2005: 262).

Since the literary works of Khushhal Khatak the traditional genre ofmarthiyyain Pashto poetry has been enriched with a new topic devotedto the commemoration of friends fallen on the battlefield.

All the matamuna elegies in our selection are dedicated to the mar-tyrs of Dasht-i Layli, a desert strip west of Mazar-i Sharif where within aperiod of a few weeks in autumn 1997 hundreds of starved Taliban pris-oners of war were massacred by forces loyal to the Northern Alliance. Amourning song included in the supplement (App. text 4) presents a nicespecimen of these elegies for it is not only very emotive, but quite fac-tual as well. In other elegies there are touching memories of a perishedfriend (Hamidis n'n-me y!de"i ha)a x#kulay !&n!//da&t-i layl!-ke&ahid&'-way !&n!Now that beautiful friend is coming to my memory, the friend

who became a martyr of Dasht-i Layli), sombre ruminations about mar-tyrs while having a meal (Hamidis ay *o*e-*o*e d!)ale m!xo wu-na-pe+an-d'le // st!&ahid ba&ar-ta+!,'m ay p'sro wino la,'layO, morsel, morsel, Ihave not even recognised that meal. I am crying over your slain body; O,the one who is stained with red blood), and a vigorous call to com-memorate the heroic deeds of the fallen martyrs in the form of an ad-dress to the Talibans White Banner:


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The wind of freedom has stirred up gusts in the north.Hey, White Banner, wave now with dignityTo Dasht-i Layli go fast with dignityOver those oppressed flap your wings with dignityTalk to that oppressed Talib with dignity:Squalls of dust have fallen on your oppressorsWell, if they killed Talib being in his young age and with dignity,

After they [i.e. the invaders] had gone, the lands of ancestors were keptintact with dignity(d!"z"d!y #am"l wah!li di lahruna p!#im"l, by Badruddin)

The figurative style of the mourning songs is distinguished by recurringreferences to Islamic mythology and legendary traditions. For Pashtunpoets a potent symbol of martyrdom has always been the historical bat-tle at Kerbela (modern Iraq) in 680 when Husayn, a grandson of theMuslim Prophet, and twenty other members of the Prophets familywere massacred by the order of the Umayya ruler Yazid. Although thisevent, which marked the final breaking-off between Sunnites and Shi-ites within the Muslim community, turned into a corner-stone of Shiitedoctrine and rites, Pashto Sunni poets since early times have employedthe battle at Kerbela as an icon of heroic self-sacrifice and eagerly madeuse of its images in their lyrics. Modern Taliban poets still keep to thisold poetic tradition when comparing the centuries-old Kerbela tragedywith the recent massacre in Dasht-i Layli. In one of his poems Hamidi

says:

Kerbela was prepared for you, whether you were young or old.Torments went down on you, whether you were healthy or sickYazid came out to the battlefield and slew our dear Husayn;He tore the bonds of heart from the cradle of mercy

Among other legendary figures and subjects mentioned in the mata-munasongs there is Abraha, an Ethiopian ruler from the Quranic 105thSura The Elephant, who unsuccessfully tried to invade Mecca (To thetorrent of Truth, o Badruddin, with dignity Even Abrahas hordes willbow with dignity), the Canaan well into which Yusuf, the Islamic Jo-seph the Beautiful from the Quranic version of the famous Biblical

story, was thrown by his brothers (see App. text 4), and Hajjaj (d. 714),the notorious Umayya governor of Khurasan, whose name in literarytradition has become synonymous with a cruel tyrant (The doings ofHajjaj brought a disaster; the tyrant assaulted you. Such a torrent ofblood it was, that the edges of the sky turned red).


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Religious homiletic songs, which belong to the diniyyagenre includeclear-cut instructions or declarations of strict obedience to Islamic be-liefs and norms. To state ones credo in verses was a rule already amongearly Pashtun men of letters. The Roshani mystics propagated the ten-ets of Islam while asserting submission to the teachings of their spiri-tual master Bayazid Ansari (d. 1572). Later the Hanafi preachers com-posed poetical discourses on Islamic dogma and ritual, not least becauseof their aim to discard the most extreme views of the Roshani mystics,their ideological opponents. In the poems of Khushhal Khatak we findplain proclamations of his firm adherence to Sunni Hanafi Islam, which,in respect to their simplified rhetoric, have much in common with theTaliban diniyya songs. Naturally, the latter can not avoid modern timerealities, like the ones listed in a plea to fellow Muslims: Reject narcot-ics, abandon TV and VCR (see text 5, App.). The most distinctive con-temporary idea in modern diniyyahomilies is the one, which appeals tothe listeners ethno-religious consciousness on a nation state level.

This land belonging to Islam will be;Every infidel and wayward here disparaged will be.Buddhism, and Christianity, and atheism,

And every other impious Law futile will be.Each one unworthy or other alienIn clash with Afghans perplexed will be.There is the firm belief of Darwesh in Holy Allah

That inevitably the rule of Shariah here will be.(da&a x"wra d!isl"m isl"m-b!wi, by Darwesh)

The patriotic songs are of particular interest, since the wataniyyagenre,although being a familiar theme in Pashto poetry from its early periodwas totally extraneous to classic Persian literature, which initiallyserved as a model for Pashtun authors. Patriotic motives with a tribaltouch were for the first time fully expressed by Khushhal Khatak in hisso-called jail verses (habsiyya) written in 1664-69 during the poets im-prisonment in Mogul India. Khushhals words from The Book of Sepa-ration (Firaq-nama, 1665-66)The love for the Homeland, O my dear,has come to me through the faith. (d'watan mina ay-!na// r!-payd!-da

l' im!na) (Khushhal 1984: 28)may well be regarded as a kind of epi-graph to all later Pashto writings of the wataniyyagenre.However, a few decades earlier the Roshani poets had already used

the term watan (lit. homeland) with its religio-philosophic connota-tion homeland of the soul (i.e. God). Mirza Khan Ansari (d. 1630/31),the most prominent Roshani poet, played on the double meaning of theword watanwhen he rhetorically asked himself: Where is your perma-


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nent homeland, if you are constantly on the way? O you, who is goingthrough his life always unsettled! (see Pelevin 2005: 156). The poetsbiography tells us that around 1619/20 he left his homeland in Pashtun-istan (presumably, in Tirah) and settled with other members of the Ro-shani community in Mogul India. His obsessive longing for his home-land Mirza Khan expressed in verses, although under a mystical veil.

Yet, for modern authors, including the Taliban poets, the wataniyyatradition can be traced back to two preeminent sources: the classicverses of Ahmad Shah Durrani (d. 1772), which are popularly perceivedas poetical markers of Afghan national statehood, and the vast heritageof Pashto folk poetry, in our case mostly specimens relating to thetroubled times of the Anglo-Afghan wars16.

The songs of the Taliban clearly demonstrate how contemporary po-ets continue to draw on the same old repertoire of principal nationalideas, stylistic means and lyrical imagery. In App. text 1 the lines t'l-ye!z!d'y-ta zalmo ix#i-di saruna // .ero atal!no kurb!n k',i tre $!nuna soundlike a paraphrase of the opening words of Ahmad Shahs most cele-bratedghazal, which is thoroughly studied and learned by heart in everyAfghan schoolst!d'i&k l'wino .ak&w'$igaruna // st!p'l!ra-ke b!yli zal-m/saruna(The hearts become filled with blood of love for You. On Yourway young men have lost their lives (lit. heads). All Taliban wataniyyatexts are remarkably permeated with a range of terms, which in Pash-tunwali refer to different aspects of the concept of honour, these being

nang, himmat, izzat,ghayrat, tura(cf. Khadim 1952).Other typical attributes of these patriotic songs are the names of the

Afghan national heroes like Mir Ways Khan (d. 1715), the founder of theHotak principality in Kandahar, Ahmad Shah Abdali, the first ruler ofthe Durrani Empire, Akbar Khan (d. 1846), the son of Afghanistans EmirDost Muhammad Khan and a key figure in the 1st Anglo-Afghan war(1838-1842), Malaley (b. 1862 ?), an outstanding woman and poetess whoin 1880 participated in the famous Maywand battle, and Amir Kror ofGhor (8th century ?), the legendary Afghan tribal chief who is supposedto be the author of the first specimen of Pashto verse.

In this list of national heroes there is also the name of MahmudGhaznawi (d. 1030) accompanied by his popular epithet Idol crasher

(but-&ikan), which deserves special attention since it directly links thehistorical past with modern times. Mahmud gained this epithet to-gether with his overall reputation as zealous defender of Islam due to

16Pashto peoples songs echoing historical events, mostly battles with British in-vaders through the whole 19th century up to the 3rd Anglo-Afghan war of 1919, areextensively studied in Girs 1984.


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his military campaigns in Central India, particularly after his notoriousraid in 1026 on a temple at Somnat where he not only took extraordi-nary booty but also destroyed the huge statue of a local deity. By fer-vent Muslims all over the world the destruction of the Somnat idol hasever since been perceived as a symbolic act of struggle against paganismand for the sake of the true faith. It is in the context of such deep-rootedidol-crashing ideology that we ought to understand the Taliban auth-orities annihilation of the Bamiyan Buddhas in spring 2001, althoughmodern common sense will suggest that it was not anything else thanan absolutely unnecessary act of wanton cultural barbarism.

Since the wataniyyasongs largely dwell on traditional poetical phras-ing and reiterate principle ideas connected to national sovereignty, in-dependence and pride, they are nearly free of any allusions to contem-porary political developments. An isolated sign of modernity in them isthe inclusion of the Russians (rus!n) in a list of foreign intruderswhose assaults on the abode of tigers have dramatically failed. It wasthe English, of course, who in the past dominated this national blacklist,but in the Taliban songs of the last decade, as one might have expected,new enemies of Afghanistan have removed them from their traditionalfirst position.

APPENDIX

Text 1

p!m kawa )alima zmun"*!*obay p'mun"gr!n-d'(2 times)da)a z'mun"mina-da da)a z'mun"$!n-d'(2 times)(2 times; refrain)

(1)d'lta .er d'as'r firawn!n r!-p'rzed'li-di.er yar)algar!n p'ke n!k!ma&armed'li-di.er p'*i*o st'rgo l'arm!na-sara tl'li-di(2 times).ak l')ayratuno p't!rix-ke kahram!n-d'(2 times)da)a z'mun"mina-da da)a z'mun"$!n-d'(2 times)(Refrain)

(2)gor'y dux#m'n!no d')'x#t'li abd!li kor-d'

d!d'but-&ikan sult!n mahmud-i )aznawi kor-d'd!d'mir-ways-x!n aw akbar-x!n d'har ba(i kor-d'(2 times)haska-ye&amla-da lwa,himmat p'*ol-ah!n-d'(2 times)da)a z'mun"mina-da da)a z'mun"$!n-d'(2 times)(Refrain)

(3)$!la d'zmaro-da )alim!n-ke oseday n'&i


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ba0d'bulbul!no-d'z!)!n war-ta r!tlay n'&i&!n lari&awkat lari cok bad war-ta katay n'&i(2 times)d!d'nango kor d'azmatuno yaw ni&!n-d'(2 times)da)a z'mun"mina-da da)a z'mun"$!n-d'(2 times)(Refrain)

(4)t'l-ye !z!d'y-ta zalmo ix#i-di saruna.ero atal!no kurb!n k',i tre$!nunarang-ye-di p'wino *ola same-di ka )runa(2 times)mina d'z!kir-da p!ka x!wra d'af)!n-d'(2 times)da)a z'mun"mina-da da)a z'mun"$!n-d'(2 times)

(Refrain)

TranslationBe cautious, enemy, our home hearth is dear to us.It is our love, it is our soul.

(1)Many tyrants of the time have made assaults upon us here.Many invaders have been put to shame here, [struggling] in vain.Many of those contemptuous have gone away from here in distress.It is full of dignity, it is a hero of times.It is our love, it is our soul.

(2)Look, enemies, it is a home of strong Abdalis.

It is a home of sultan Mahmud Ghaznawi, the Idolcrasher.It is a home of every offspring of Mir-Ways Khan and Akbar Khan.The end of its turban is high17, it is of great valour in the whole world.It is our love, it is our soul.

(3)It is an abode of tigers, adversaries cannot live in here.It is a garden of nightingales, crows cannot come in here.It has grandeur, it has might, no-one can look scornfully on it.It is a dwelling place of honour, it is a token of pride.It is our love, it is our soul.

(4)Young men have always laid down their heads for its freedom.

Many brave men have sacrificed their lives for its sake.All the plains and all the mountains are coloured with their blood.It is a love of Zakir, it is a sacred land of the Afghans.It is our love, it is our soul.

17 The long end of a turban is an old Pashtun symbol of pride and high socialstatus.


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Text 2d'ir!do )urur-de rasi t'r !sm!n !sm!n ma)lub ked'lay na&i

z'm!hew!da p't!wy!,i har af)!n af)!n wah&at z)am'lay na&i(2 times; refrain)

(1)by!-de d'wino rud-i nil d'nang cape k,e xware

sre faw!re k,e xware(2 times)

p'-ke l!hu&w'l rakib!n-o,&u tuf!n tuf!n !r!med'lay na&i(2 times)(Refrain)

(2)by!-de d'nang ti)una$i d'sardaro p'r$igaraw,i p'kahar kahar(2 times)war-$i *a*ar-ta d')alim p'sar ni&!n ni&!n b'l xw!-ta tl'lay na&i(2 times)(Refrain)

(3)t!-ke loy&'we hara pe)la d'izzat n!wak'yd!d'maywand mal!l'y(2 times)lari d'nang ihs!s d!st!w!,a zalmiy!n zalmiy!n teray man'lay na&i(2 times)(Refrain)

(4)d'himmat tura-ke-de$!ngi kakar'y d'angrezw!,a-de k,'rez-marez(2 times)&w'l r!-naskora-de kadam-lara rus!n rus!n nor p!ced'lay na&i(2 times)(Refrain)

(5)d'samim y!r kalam-b't'l st!ham!se y!dawi

st!k!rn!me y!dawi(2 times)

t!rix d'wy!,-de y!dawi-b'-de d!st!n d!st!n t!heraw'lay na&i(2 times)(Refrain)

TranslationThe dignity of Your willpowers reaches the sky, the sky cannot besubdued.


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O my country, every Afghan is proud of You, the Afghan cannot bearviolence.

(1)Again the Nile river of Your blood scattered the waves of honour,Scattered the red fountains.Enemies went swimming in them, the storm began, the storm cannotsettle down.

(2)Again the blades of Your honour strike in the heart of mountainvalleys,Move with great anger.

At the chest of enemy the target goes, the target cannot go atanother place.

(3)Every girl of Yours has grown up to be a bride of honour,Like Malaley of Maywand.All young men of Yours have a feeling of honour, young men cannotaccept oppression.

(4)The skull of an Englishman is hanging on Your saber of bravery,You hacked to pieces every of them.The Russians fell down under Your feet, the Russians cannot standup again.

(5)Kalamof Samimyar will memorise forever Your courage,Will memorise Your heroic deeds.It is the day of Your pride, the story will remember You, the storycannot forget You.

Text 3ihs!s-me p'na,'y-ke )ur$anguna xwax#awi

zamir-me ham!se inkil!buna xwax#awi(2 times; refrain)

(1)b!war-me-d'(e xd!y l')ayratm'no-sara mal-d'(2 times)

z'm!)ayrati xd!y xo )ayratuno xwax#awi

zamir-me ham!se inkil!buna xwax#awi(2 times)(Refrain)

(2)p'de xab'ra t'l-y'm d'benango poraw',ay(2 times)(e z,'-me xp'lw!ki aw azmatuna xwax#awi


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(3)d'b'l (!-b'xwax#e"i tore zulfe ameluna(2 times)

fitrat z'm!&amle aw&ax bretuna xwax#awizamir-me ham!se inkil!buna xwax#awi(2 times)(Refrain)

(4)hick'la-me k!ni d')ul!m'y p'+wandun n'k,o(2 times)

wi-d!n-me zawalane aw zan$iruna xwax#awizamir-me ham!se inkil!buna xwax#awi(2 times)(Refrain)

(5)n!g!r&u d'p!lang aw d'x!luno l'st!y'lo(2 times)kalam d'haydari d'nang&iruna xwax#awi


TranslationMy feelings enjoy swift raids in this world.

My heart enjoys braveries and revolts.(1)I believe that God helps men of honour.So, my proud God enjoys prides.My heart enjoys braveries and revolts.

(2)In this matter I am always in debt of vengeance toward those havingno honour.For my heart enjoys freedom and dignities.My heart enjoys braveries and revolts.

(3)Others will enjoy black locks and garlands.

My spirit enjoys end of turban and coarse bristle.My heart enjoys braveries and revolts.

(4)I never accepted the life of a servant.My mind enjoys better chains and fetters.My heart enjoys braveries and revolts.


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(5)It has rejected the praising of bride-bed and moles,The kalamof Haydari enjoys verses of honour.My heart enjoys braveries and revolts.

Text 4(1)

st!p'sina-ke p'mazlum wu&w'l f!yruna na,ede wale na aw da&te layle+a,ede wale na spin gul!n p'xp'lo wino sr'wu(2 times; refrain)c'loy m!tam loya )aw)!wa t!hec na way'l(2 times)

p't!-ke-o,a kirbil!wa t!hec na way'l(2 times)

(2)(e ra+ed'l d'p!k nabi d'b!)guluna na,ede wale na aw da&te layle+a,ede wale na spin gul!n p'xp'lo wino sr'wu(Refrain)*o*i pr!t'wu be kafana d'st!p')e"-ke(2 times)bel')amxora be madfana d'st!p')e"-ke(2 times)

(3)l!suna px#e p'wino sr'l'ka guluna aw da&te layle+a,ede wale na spin gul!n p'xp'lo wino sr'wu(Refrain)d'$ankandan ob'-ye )ux#te )amxor-ye na wu(2 times)

s'lg'y wah'le .ere saxte )amxor-ye na wu(2 times)

(4)(e lambed'l p'xp'lo wino-ke laluna na,ede wale na aw da&te layle+a,ede wale na spin gul!n p'xp'lo wino sr'wu(Refrain)

p',m'x pr!t'wu l!s-ta,'li s'lg'y wah'le(2 times)p'xp'lo wino lambed'li s'lg'y wah'le(2 times)

(5)war-b!nde-o,wu d'marmayo b!r!nuna na,ede wale na aw da&te layle+a,ede wale na spin gul!n p'xp'lo wino sr'wu(2 times)

p'.er wah&at-ye&ahid!n k,'l d'din t!lib!n(2 times)band-ye kuhi-ke d'kin!n k,'l d'din t!lib!n(2 times)

(6)ad!laty!ra xe+!w'l-ye pre *!nkuna na,ede wale na aw da&te layle+a,ede wale na spin gul!n p'xp'lo wino sr'wu(2 times)(Refrain)


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Translation(1)On Your chest the sufferers were fired down. Why didnt You break?Oh, Dasht-i Layli!Why didnt You cry? White flowers were red with their own blood.What a great mourning it was! What a great turmoil! But You saidnothing.A Kerbela was built up on You. But You said nothing.

(2)When these flowers from the Holy Prophets garden fell down whydidnt You break? Oh, Dasht-i Layli!

Why didnt You cry? White flowers were red with their own blood.Those torn in pieces were lying with no shrouds in Your arms.With no one mournful over them, with no grave.

(3)Head to foot they were red with blood like flowers. Oh, Dasht-i Layli!Why didnt You cry? White flowers were red with their own blood.A last drop of water in death agony they needed but there was noone mournful over them.In death agony very hard they breathed but there was no onemournful over them.

(4)When these rubies bathed in their own blood why didnt You break?

Oh, Dasht-i Layli!Why didnt You cry? White flowers were red with their own blood.With faces up and tied hands they were lying and breathing hard.In their own blood they were bathing and breathing hard.

(5)Rains of shells were dispatched on them. Why didnt You break? Oh,Dasht-i Layli!Why didnt You cry? White flowers were red with their own blood.Out of strong fear enemies murdered Taliban of faith.In the Canaan well they imprisoned Taliban of faith.

(6)O, Adalatyar, enemies moved up tanks over them. Why didnt Youbreak? Oh, Dasht-i Layli!Why didnt You cry? White flowers were red with their own blood.

Text 5am'r bi-l-maruf muslima nahy an-al-munkar kawa

sam saf!amal p'x#kuli l!r d'pay)ambar kawa(2 times)(2 times; refrain)


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(1)t'xo musalm!n-ye b!yad wuk,i p'quran amal(2 times)

fikha ah!dis aw d'all!h p'har farm!n amal(2 times)pre"da d!na&e *iwi wisyar na dar-guzar kawasam saf!amal p'x#kuli l!r d'pay)ambar kawa(2 times)(Refrain)

(2)gora k!fir!n st!d'fikro xar!baw'l )w!,i(2 times)&pa-wra$e ku&i&k,i st!d'din barb!daw'l )w!,i(2 times)t'ham )ayrat wuk,a har l!din p'zidd la&kar kawa

sam saf!amal p'x#kuli l!r d'pay)ambar kawa(2 times)(Refrain)

(3)r!&a d'hak mal&a w')ul!m-ta )ul!mi m'k,a(2 times)loy rab-ta taslim&a&ark aw )arb-ta sal!mi ma k,a(2 times)

x#'d'din askar&a kurb!ni p'm!l aw sar kawasam saf!amal p'x#kuli l!r d'pay)ambar kawa(2 times)(Refrain)

TranslationO Muslim, obey command for doing good and prohibition of doing

bad,Act righteously and fairly on the true way of the Prophet,

(1)You are a Muslim, and you should act according to Quran.You should abide Fiqh, Hadiths and every order of Allah.Reject narcotics, abandon TV and VCR,Act righteously and fairly on the true way of the Prophet.

(2)Look, infidels want to disrupt your mind.Day and night they are trying to destroy your faith.And you, exert your dignity and fight against every unbeliever,Act righteously and fairly on the true way of the Prophet.

(3)Come on, be a follower of Truth, do not serve to servant.Obey the Great God; do not bow to East or West.Be a good warrior of faith; sacrifice your life and wealth,Act righteously and fairly on the true way of the Prophet.


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Documents

Songs of Taliban